We're always on the lookout for good desktop Twitter clients. Because while the microblogging service is kind of useful as a web-based tool for sharing your thoughts, desktop clients make Twitter feel more like an instant messaging platform that allows you to communicate with hundreds, even thousands of people at once.

While there are a couple of excellent Twitter clients for Windows and OS X, Linux users have had a more limited selection. A few months ago we looked at gTwitter, an application for reading and sending Tweets from your Linux desktop. While gTwitter will get the job done, it lacks some of the features we use the most, like URL shortening and the ability to reply to tweets from other users with the click of a button.

So we were pretty excited when we read about Twitux, another Twitter client designed for Linux. Installation couldn't have been easier. We downloaded a deb file for Ubuntu, and our system automatically downloaded all the required dependencies and instlled Twtiux. And then we saw that it was almost as basic as gTwitter. Twitux gives you more control over your timeline view, allowing you to see the public timeline, your friends timeline, your own timeline, direct messages, or replies. But if you want to send a reply or direct message you'll have to do it manually. There's no option to click on a friends' name in the timeline and respond.

Fortunately, now that Adobe has released a version of their AIR platform for Linux, you can run popular AIR-based Twitter clients like Spaz and Twhirl, So while we're still kind of hoping that someone will develop a full-featured Twitter client that runs natively in Linux, we'll happily settle for the cross-platform Twhirl client. A new version of Twhirl was released this week with a few bug fixes and one major new feature: support for Friendfeed discussions.

Because it wasn't hard enough trying to decide which Adobe AIR-based desktop Twitter/FriendFeed client to use, MySocial 24x7 had to go and complicate things by releasing their own desktop client. MySocial 24x7 started out as a Firefox sidebar add-on, but if you value your screen real estate, standalone applications are the way to go.

The desktop client lets you track and engage in Twitter and FriendFeed conversations without a web browser. One thing that sets MySocial 24x7 apart from other desktop clients like Twhirl and Alert Thingy is the integrated browser that lets you view pictures and videos without launching a web browser.

The interface is clean and easy to use. But it's not very customizable. If you want to see detailed user information, or send direct Twitter messages, MySocial 24x7 might not be the desktop client for you. We also had a hard time getting the client to connect to our Twitter and FriendFeed accounts, but it did a great job of tracking public timelines.

[via TechCrunch]

When it comes to desktop alert clients for social networking feeds, there can be only one. Well, that's not really true, but when it comes right down to it, do you want to run one application to keep track of your Twitter updates, another for posting to Jaiku and Pownce, and still a third to track FriendFeed updates? Probably not, which is why Twhirl is such a nifty little application since it can now do all of those things, and support for video micro-blogging service Seesmic is coming soon.

That brings the total number of Adobe AIR-based desktop clients for accessing FriendFeed updates to at least two. The other day we told you about Alert Thingy, a new desktop client for keeping tabs on your FriendFeed information. But just as Twhirl was busy adding FriendFeed to its repertoire, Alert Thingy's developers were adding Twitter integration, which means the two applications are now fighting for the same user base.

At this point, Twhirl has a much stronger Twitter client than Alert Thingy and Alert Thingy has a much more elegant FriendFeed interface. And both applications eat up more RAM than we're really comfortable with. But development on these desktop notifier/communication clients is happening at a pretty quick pace and both tools are worth keeping an eye on.

[via TechCrunch]

Seesmic, which is in private beta, is basically a micro-video-blogging service, which allows users to record and share short videos and respond to videos from other users. Seesmic has often been described as Twitter for video chat. Today that comparison becomes a bit more apt, as Seesmic has acquired Twhirl, one of the most popular desktop clients for Twitter.

Twhirl is one of several Twitter clients built on Adobe AIR which use Twitter's API to essentially make a web-page based service feel more like an instant messaging client. You can run Twhirl as a desktop application on your Windows, Mac, or Linux machine. When new messages come in, you get an alert, and you can sort messages by replies, directs, or personal and public timelines. Twhirl also recently added the ability to repost messages to other micrblogging services like Jaiku and Pownce.

So what does this acquisition mean? First and foremost, Twhirl will be getting Seesmic video capabilities soon. As you can see from the screenshot to the right, video messages will show up in a timeline just like Twitter messages. Users will be able to click on a video message to open up a window that will play the video.

Second, so far Twhirl's creator Marco Kaiser has been developing Twhirl in his free time. Yet he's been able to build one of the most capable Twitter clients around. Now that he's working for Seesmic, Kaiser will be able to work on Twhirl full time. We can hardly wait to see the results.

Not surprisingly, Seesmic founder Loic Le Meur decided to share his thoughts on the acquisition with a video. You can check it out after the jump.

Adobe hasn't officially ported Adobe AIR to Linux yet, but Ubuntu Unleashed figured out that you can install AIR using the WINE windows emulation layer for Linux. Installation isn't exactly painless, and when all is said and done, there are a bunch of AIR applications that won't run. But some will.

Note that the instructions at Ubuntu Unleashed tell you how to install Adobe AIR beta 3. But read on and we'll show you how to install Adobe AIR 1.0.

Twhirl 0.7.1 was released this week and the desktop Twitter client has some major new features. First, the new version runs on Adobe AIR 1.0, so you don't need to have the old beta version of AIR installed to run it. But we're much more excited about the other new features including the ability to cross-post to Pownce and Jaiku.

If you provide your Pownce and Jaiku login information in the settings tab, any time you send a message to Twitter, the message will automatically go to your other micro-blogging services as well. You won't see replies from your Pownce or Jaiku contacts in Twhirl, but as far as baby steps go, this one's a doozy.

Twhirl 0.7.1 also includes additional color schemes, the ability to choose your URL shortening service (either Snurl or is.gd) and the ability to mark messages as read.

Twitter's alright if you like to keep hitting refresh on a static web page. But we like our social software to be a bit more interactive. Desktop Twitter clients like Snitter do a great job of making Twitter feel more like an instant messaging platform and less like a web service. You receive a notification whenever someone you're following posts a new tweet, and you can quickly post new messages or replies.

The only drawback is that Snitter doesn't let you login to more than one account at a time. So if you maintain separate accounts for work and personal tweets, you can only use one at a time. Fortunately, there's Twhirl.

Twhirl has pretty much all the same features as Snitter, and like Snitter, it's built on Adobe AIR which means you can use the Twitter client on a Mac or PC. Plus it lets you login to multiple accounts. For example, we were able to monitor and update the Download Squad Twitter account at the same time as a personal account.

Twhirl also offers some nice customization options. For example, you can change the font of tweets, schedule how often the program will check for new messages, and determine how notifications will be displayerd.

[via Digital Inspiration]